National Security Cutter departs Miami to Charleston homeport

MIAMI – The Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton, the first national security cutter for the East Coast, departed Miami Friday on its maiden voyage to its homeport in Charleston.

As the Coast Guard’s largest and newest 418-foot cutter, the Hamilton arrived Tuesday for its Miami port call at Bayfront Park after departing the Ingalls Shipbuilding facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi Nov. 1.

In transit from the shipyard, the Hamilton’s crew completed their Ready for Sea training in nine days to certify the ship and crew for operations. During the training, the Legend class NSC trained and evaluated the crew’s performance in over 50 shipboard evolutions that included navigation, seamanship, engineering, damage control, combat systems and medical response requirements.

“I’m very proud of our crew’s hard work and dedication to complete this certification,” said Capt. Doug Fears, Hamilton’s commanding officer. “After six months of onsite preparation, familiarization and training at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula Hamilton’s crew continues to amaze me with their can-do spirit and teamwork.”

Hamilton is scheduled to be commissioned into service at a ceremony scheduled for Dec. 6 in Charleston.

The Hamilton is the fourth NSC built out of eight planned for the Legend class cutter fleet. It is the sixth cutter to be named after Alexander Hamilton, who cast a vision for the Revenue Marine Service in Federalist Paper #12, and then as the first Secretary of the Treasury prompted Congress to create the Revenue Marine Service, a precursor to the modern Coast Guard.

The first three NSCs – Coast Guard Cutters Bertholf, Waesche and Stratton – are performing operations from their Alameda, California, homeport. The fifth NSC, James, is scheduled to be delivered in the summer of 2015. The keel laying for the sixth, Munro, is scheduled for later this fall, with delivery scheduled for 2016. The seventh, Kimball, is under production, and long lead time materials for the eighth, Midgett, have been ordered.

The Legend-class NSC is the largest multipurpose cutter in the Coast Guard fleet and is replacing the 378-foot high endurance cutter, which has been in service since the 1960s. The NSC is 418 feet long and has a top speed of 28 knots and a range of 12,000 nautical miles. It is capable of patrolling in excess of 90 days.